Eight and a half years after the Bárcenas papers came to light, the national audience has put an end to the investigation. Magistrate Santiago Pedraz has refused to dictate a new extension of the investigation, which will be closed next day 29.
In the only case still in the instructional phase related to the Gürtel case, the possible payment of commissions by great entrepreneurs to the Popular Party in exchange for the award of works is investigated. In 2015 Judge Pablo Ruz has already closed the cause, but his successor, José de la Mata, reopened her after the statement of the leader of the plot, Francisco Correa, in the main trial of the Gürtel case.
"An entrepreneur was coming and gave us the tender, to see if we could get the work for us. I was passed on to Bárcenas, and Bárcenas managed it with the corresponding ministry. The employer gave a percentage of 2 or 3%, And then I took it to Genoa [...] What happened to be? Diverse, well, promotion, environment ... ", he declared Correa to the Court.
After those words and others pointing to payments to several ministries, the judge returned to take statements and claim police reports. The most relevant is yet to come: the award study of several ministries to the Alfonso García Pozuelo entrepreneur worth more than 600 million and its possible link with the donations of beneficiary entrepreneurs who were in the opaque accounting of the former PP Treasurer Luis Bárcenas
Although the research period is closed, all the aforementioned diligences or reports requested may be incorporated into the cause. What can not be done will be asking for new reports. With regard to the cause and the already claimed the judge should agree on whether there is sufficient incriminating material to move forward. If so, the PP could be seen again on the bench, although not as a direct defendant - it was not legally possible when the facts happened - but as a civil manager.
The last diligence practiced, last day 16, was to take a declaration for the umpteenth time to Bárcenas itself. Sources of the investigation consider that he did not contribute novel elements. He alleged, as he had done in the trial for Box B of the PP, which the material he documented commission payments was stolen in the operation known as operation Kitchen.
The end of the investigation period has counted on the support of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. They have opposed, however, both the various popular accusations personally and the state advocacy. The decision can still be appealed to the Pedraz itself and before the Court of the Hearing that revises decisions on this cause.
Date Of Update: 25 July 2021, 04:10
